This is my final blog in the series for Move Me On, and I hope that by now you are making good progress towards evaluating what you want from your next career move and taking decisive action to make it happen.  With the encouragement of my blogs readying you for a career change, and Phil’s blogs supporting you with the practical elements of progressing in your career, you should feel well-prepared for the exciting next stage in your professional life.

I have covered a range of subjects and activities in my previous blog posts which should have allowed you to really explore what sort of new position you are looking for.  We have talked about things such as insight, motivation and lifestyle  in order to help you question the career choices you make and why you make them.  Equally, my blog posts covering stress and your world view are more focussed on helping you to think and behave in ways which are both positive and productive as you plan for your next career move.

This blog entry, therefore, is a final thought to ensure that you are mentally equipped for the exhilarating challenge of moving into a new job.

In order to prepare you for your move forwards into the exciting unknown, I want for a moment to propel you back a couple of decades to your early childhood.  This is based on the excellent analogy made by family therapist Dr. Robyn Skinner in his book ‘Families and How to Survive Them’, who talks about your ‘inner baby’.  Dr. Skinner uses the technique of getting his clients to ‘nurture’ their ‘inner baby’ – essentially treating your adult self with the same kindness that you would treat a baby or small child.  This may sound peculiar, but the idea is a simple one.  When we do stressful things in life, such as apply for and start new jobs, we need to be able to treat ourselves with loving kindness in order to ensure that we can cope with the nerve-racking days and weeks ahead of us.  Just as your mother or father gave you a cuddle and your favourite tea when you returned home from your first day of school, so you must treat yourself with loving kindness when you are coping with the challenge of moving into a new job role.

At its simplest this means that you should make sure that you are giving yourself time for relaxation and pleasure whilst you are applying for jobs, attending interviews and then starting-out in your new place of work.  This need to treat yourself with loving kindness should also mean that you try to reduce change in other areas of your life as you focus on your career move.  Just knowing that you have a familiar home or familiar faces to return to at the end of each day can make a stressful time at work seem invigorating rather than overwhelming.

So, my final exercise for you to take-away today doesn’t involve writing lists, breathing deeply or visualising a tropical beach.  Instead, as you move on to this next stage of your professional career, please make sure that you gently nurture yourself with good food, gentle exercise and the company of close friends.

If you are still searching for the perfect job then please take a look at the latest that Move Me On has to offer here.  Whether you have found the perfect new job or not, I wish you the best of luck with your career and look forwards to meeting you in person at a Move Me On event in the near future.

References:

Skinner, R., & Cleese, J. (1993). Families and How to Survive Them. London: Cedar Books.

Image courtesy of markuso